AMG Review of Mythology: The 50th Anniversary Collection

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Released in 2010 to commemorate 50 years of the Bee Gees -- a date picked from their formation, not from when they started to hit the charts -- this four-disc box set celebrates the legacy of the Brothers Gibb, devoting a disc each to songs sung by a particular sibling. This includes their brother Andy, who never was a Bee Gee but certainly was closely tied to his older brothers, who did write several of his big hits including “Shadow Dancing,” “I Just Want to Be Your Everything,” “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water,” “An Everlasting Love,” and “(Our Love) Don’t Throw It All Away,” songs that appear on the fourth disc of Mythology, fitting neatly alongside the Bee Gees tunes on the first three discs. Each of the songs was chosen by a Gibb -- Barry and Robin picked their respective discs, Maurice’s widow chose his, Andy’s daughter Peta curated his disc -- and they never failed to include the group’s biggest hits, along with well-chosen selections scattered throughout their catalog. A few hits may be absent -- “Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)” and “Lonely Days” are notably missing -- but that isn’t as problematic as the sequencing skipping through the decades on each disc, a tactic that, while designed to increase appreciation for the different eras, winds up preventing any momentum from catching hold. Nevertheless, the conceit of devoting a disc to each brother pays off splendidly, increasing appreciation for what each Gibb accomplished, and that, combined with the great majority of the Bee Gees’ signature hits, makes Mythology a fitting anniversary celebration.